- Title
- Physiological characteristics of well-trained junior sprint kayak athletes
- Creator
- Borges, Thiago Oliveira; Dascombe, Ben; Bullock, Nicola; Coutts, Aaron J.
- Relation
- International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance Vol. 10, Issue 5, p. 593-599
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2014-0292
- Publisher
- Human Kinetics
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2015
- Description
- This study aimed to profile the physiological characteristics of junior sprint kayak athletes (n = 21, VO2max 4.1 ± 0.7 L/min, training experience 2.7 ± 1.2 y) and to establish the relationship between physiological variables (VO2max, VO₂ kinetics, muscleoxygen kinetics, paddling efficiency) and sprint kayak performance. VO2max, power at VO2max, power:weight ratio, paddling efficiency, VO₂ at lactate threshold, and whole-body and muscle oxygen kinetics were determined on a kayak ergometer in the laboratory. Separately, on-water time trials (TT) were completed over 200 m and 1000 m. Large to nearly perfect (-.5 to-.9) inverse relationships were found between the physiological variables and on-water TT performance across both distances. Paddling efficiency and lactate threshold shared moderate to very large correlations (-.4 to-.7) with 200- and 1000-m performance. In addition, trivial to large correlations (-.11 to-.5) were observed between muscle-oxygenation parameters, muscle and whole-body oxygen kinetics, and performance. Multiple regression showed that 88% of the unadjusted variance for the 200-m TT performance was explained by VO2max, peripheral muscle deoxygenation, and maximal aerobic power (P < .001), whereas 85% of the unadjusted variance in 1000-m TT performance was explained by VO2max and deoxyhemoglobin (P < .001). The current findings show that well-trained junior sprint kayak athletes possess a high level of relative aerobic fitness and highlight the importance of the peripheral muscle metabolism for sprint kayak performance, particularly in 200-m races, where finalists and nonfinalists are separated by very small margins. Such data highlight the relative aerobic-fitness variables that can be used as benchmarks for talent-identification programs or monitoring longitudinal athlete development. However, such approaches need further investigation.
- Subject
- aerobic fitness; oxygen kinetics; muscle oxygenation
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1331953
- Identifier
- uon:26747
- Identifier
- ISSN:1555-0265
- Language
- eng
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